Rome, NY and crossing Lake Oneida

Week 2

Saturday, June 7

Forget counting the days! Since this trip will take over a year I think that would get a little tedious for reader and writer alike. So today on Saturday we start our second week on our trip, leaving Utica and motoring to Rome, NY.



This part of the canal is newer - very straight and peaceful

The dredging stopped while we passed by

 

The day was uneventful except for passing a dredging operation along the way. We passed through lock 20 and arrived at the municipal dock in late morning. We tied up right in front of Destinees on the short dock and had some lunch on board. There was no power or water, but a nice place to stop at the Canal Park. A little later we waved our friends Randy and Sherri on Priorities by as they moved on to a marina at the east end of Lake Oneida.

Priorities passes by while we were tied up in Rome
Love the pink fenders - faded from the original red!

We called up an old friend whom we knew when John and I were living here when he was attached to the North East Air Defense Sector at what was Griffiss AFB. Our friend’s former husband had worked with John  – he has moved on but Jackie is still living in Rome. She and her daughter offered to pick us up to go to her house for a visit and we gladly agreed.
We had a good time catching up on 15 years’ worth of news for both the city and old friends.
They drove us around Rome for a tour, so it was quite a nostalgia trip to go through the familiar streets. She took us onto former Griffiss AFB where we saw the house where we had lived and all the changes that had been made since the base was turned over to Rome, which has since developed it as an industrial park.



Tugboat Urger is the flagship vessel in the NY state
Canal Corporation's fleet

That evening we walked over to the Savoy restaurant, one of our old favorite haunts, with Sandra and Nelson, the fellow Loopers on MV Destinees. Good food, good laughs and stimulating conversation!

Captain’s Log:

Depart: Utica 8:45 am
Locked through lock 20
Engine hours: 2.5
Clock time 2.5 hrs.
Arrive: Rome, NY Canal Park 11:15 am
Weather clear, warming - super day!

Sunday, June 8

We were taking our time with Sunday breakfast because we only had to go through 2 locks and travel a few miles to a marina at the east end of Sylvan Beach. We planned to meet our Florida friends there who were vacationing with their RV. Did I say plans? Those are meant to change on a boat trip and change they did.
Our generator sputtered and died – we had no power for that second cup of tea. John tried clearing the lines to fix a fuel problem, but it just wouldn’t run for more than a few minutes. We decided we needed to get to a place where they had mechanical service. So we altered our plans, started the engines and pulled out onto the canal behind Destinees to make the trip across Lake Oneida to Brewerton, NY and Ess-Kay Yards, Inc. where we had planned to stop next week anyway, to have a few things checked out.

This one is for our granddaughter Iris!
The wild yellow irises were in bloom all along this section of the canal.
 

How many locks do we have left to go?
 

Waiting at the wall for lock 21 to open

We locked through gates 21 and 22 – this time going down to lake level. It was a great day to be on the lake and lots of other people thought so too! There was hardly any wind, but we saw boaters galore and were rocked by frequent wakes. The lake is about 20 miles across and the trip took us about 3 ½ hours.

View to the south on Lake Oneida - the countryside is very flat -
the green post marks a rock and the port side of the channel

Our boat is now tied up in Brewerton at Ess-Kay, recommended by the AGLCA. Parts will be ordered tomorrow and we are looking forward to an informative talk about the Trent Severn Waterway this evening. It should be well attended, there are at least four boats making the loop staying here at the marina tonight.

Captain’s Log:

Depart: Rome 8:05 am
Locked through locks 21 & 22
Engine hours: 5.2
Clock time 5.5 hrs.
Arrive: Ess-Kay Yard 1:45 pm
Winds less than 5 kts. hazy, nice day